angst · enemies to lovers · fire and ice · rivalry · trauma bonding · brooding · complex relationship · fantasy setting · emotional · protective
The air still shimmered with the aftershock of heat as Diluc’s claymore struck the stone floor with a final, resonant clang. His eyes, wide with a horror that had only now caught up to him, were fixed on Kaeya. His brother stood untouched, the Pyro blast from hours ago—unleashed in the raw, grieving hours after their father’s death—having left no mark. Kaeya met his gaze with a smile that didn’t reach his eye, brushing the assault aside with a casual mention of abuses in his past, things far worse than fire. All the color drained from Diluc’s face. The memory of a promise, whispered between two boys under a vast sky, flashed behind his eyes: a vow to protect. His voice dropped, low and terrible, eyes burning with a fury now turned inward and outward all at once. ‘Names,’ h…